AC Milan suffered a disappointing setback on Sunday night as we fell to a 2-1 defeat to Torino.
The Rossoneri started brightly but didn’t make the most of some big early chances, and we were ultimately punished for it as the hosts opened up a two-goal lead.
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While we managed to halve that deficit in the second half and give ourselves a chance of taking something away from the game, it wasn’t to be as we slipped to our second defeat of the Serie A season.
Stefano Pioli won’t have been happy with what he saw given it was such a below-par performance, but attention quickly shifts to the next game as we switch our focus to our European objectives in midweek.
Performance nowhere near good enough
Over the past couple of years, Milan have set a high standard. While we don’t always play at our very best, we find ways to stay compact and organised and win games with grit and moments of quality, and that has led to our successes.
This was a real dip from that. Defensively we looked vulnerable, we weren’t clinical or ruthless enough in front of goal and our play throughout was sloppy and lacking rhythm.
Pioli needs a reaction from the squad this week as not only do we have a huge Champions League game ahead, but we’ve got three winnable games in Serie A ahead of the break for the World Cup. We must bounce back and take maximum points.
Reaction after Leao’s missed chances
While we started well and caused Torino major problems in the opening stages, the reaction after Rafael Leao failed to convert two big openings was both surprising and concerning.
Milan steadily seemed to lose their way, and there almost a sense of casualness and a lacklustre element to our play in that we believed we could easily come through this test.
If the intensity, urgency and energy isn’t where it needs to be and we don’t out-scrap teams, we lose a fundamental battle and leave the door open for a surprise result like this one.
Pioli must find balance with rotation
As is always the case when Pioli makes multiple key changes to the Milan XI, there is a concern as to whether we’ve got the balance of the side right and can maintain our style of play in an efficient manner.
Players who come in for those rested step into a well-oiled system and way of playing, and it’s then down to them to do their respective jobs to a high level to put us in a position to win.
Pioli ultimately has no choice at times given the absentees he’s without and the hectic fixture schedule. However, he may well need to reconsider some of the key personnel changes he makes against which opposition, as we simply didn’t show up and perform to the level we’re capable of.
Defensive issues so far this season a concern
Milan have now conceded 13 goals in our opening 12 league games of the season. While that’s not necessarily alarming in itself, given we conceded 31 in total last year, it shows we’re not on a positive trajectory currently.
Further, only Inter have conceded more out of the top eight sides in the standings, and so must find our defensive solidity again and soon.
What this run in recent weeks has shown is that we miss fundamental individuals in our backline. Mike Maignan is a big loss between the posts, while Davide Calabria’s return will be welcome news. That could allow Pierre Kalulu to shift back into the centre, or Simon Kjaer will hopefully be ready for a lengthy run in the side.
Can’t afford to lose much more ground on Napoli
It’s still early in the season and there is a lot of football to be played, and it’s fair to assume at this stage that Napoli will have a dip in form at some point too.
However, we’re now six points adrift of the league leaders having also lost to them earlier in the season, and so the gap needs to start closing rather than widening in the coming weeks.
The Partenopei look mightily impressive thus far as they set an impressive pace at the top. Milan mustn’t fall further adrift and give ourselves too much catching up to do in the back end of the campaign as ideally, we’ll apply plenty of pressure on them throughout the title race.